Nosocomial spread of gentamicin-tobramycin resistance in hospital strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter sp. origin, development and transfer of R plasmids from pseudomonas to enterobacter.
In the Medical Centre of the University of Bratislava the period between 1975 and 1976 was studied with regard to a rather limited use of Gentamicin (GEN) which was then followed by a period of excessive administration thereof due to a change in the availability of the antibiotic. As a consequence, GEN-resistant (GENR) Pseudomonas appeared in two medical wards, which resistance however, was non-transmissible. A few month later, however, transfer of GENR was demonstrated as a co-transfer with other types of resistance. For the first time in 1979 strains of P. aeruginosa transferring GENR directly appeared as rather individual, dispersed strains. Later in 1979, clustered outbreaks of hospital infections caused by GENR Entrobacter sp. transferring GENR appeared as single as well as mixed infections. Interspecies transfer from P. aeruginosa to Enterobacteriaceae, and vice versa, was demonstrated in vitro. Identity or close similarity of enzyme patterns inactivating aminoglycoside antibiotics in P. aeruginosa and Enterobacter suggest that genes for GENR could be transposed from P. aeruginosa under the massive selective pressure of GEN.
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004754:Enterobacter; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010957:Plasmids; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa; D014031:Tobramycin / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005839:Gentamicins; D014031:Tobramycin